El País looks at waiting lists across Spain. Andalucía comes out in last place for operations (173 days).
Opinion from the ABC here: ‘Many people from Almería feel like they're Andalusians abroad, needing to know about the privileged Andalucía when dealing with administrative matters or emergencies, and not just medical ones. You go to them, the Andalusians of Almería, and they welcome you as if you've arrived at a sister tribe, isolated more by time than by distance…’ In short, Almería is a long way away from the headquarters of its regional government in Seville.
My local hospital is in Huercal Overa – the farthest you can get from Seville without leaving the region entirely. It’s 423kms by road. It’s an easy place to forget when you are a bureaucrat with a nice view of the Guadalquivir from your office window.
I used to go – now and then as one does – to the old very run-down hospital that would do service for Northern Almería. The waiting room had different chairs in it, scavenged from offices, homes and even old cars. A friend of mine was waiting once for her turn, and a glass lamp suddenly detached itself from the ceiling and landed on her head. ‘I’d better deal with that first’, said the doctor as he came through the door.
Manuel Chaves opened the new hospital back in 1999. I have a photo somewhere.
It was pretty good – modern, close-by and with a decent bar downstairs (at least on the doctors’ side). It may not have served brandy like the old one did (you often needed a shot after seeing the doc in those days), but it had a good cafeteria and, I think it still does – no booze through. Doctors’ orders.
For some reason, the doctors at the Huercal Overa hospital have temporary assignments (or so they tell me). Many an occasion, a whole consultancy is closed down. As for extended waiting times, I’m still waiting for a test ordered last June.
The SAS (Andalusian health authority) is now sending patients to a private hospital up the road in Lorca (Murcia) for operations as the Huercal Overa hospital can’t handle them.
I know, I could go private…
The Andalusian elections will be held on May 17th and the Partido Popular will almost certainly be returned (possibly with an uncomfortable alliance with Vox). The PP has been directly responsible for underfunding the public health service (both here and in Madrid), so it's unlikely things will improve.
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The Partido Popular held a meeting in Mojácar last week to celebrate the Andalusian health system without mentioning our nearest hospital, the ailing La Inmaculada in Huercal Overa.